Oculus Rift joins the Chuck E. Cheese cast

Ah, Chuck E. Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid and a giant rat runs around your table while you eat. A giant singing rat. And now it has Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, too.

Chuck E. Cheese is adding Oculus Rift to its restaurants with the Chuck E. Cheese's Virtual Ticket Blaster Experience, starting today with locations in Dallas, and later this month in San Diego and Orlando. The Virtual Ticket Blaster puts a 3D Chuck E. (that's the big rodent) in the ticket-collecting tube with the lucky birthday kid.

"Kids today have unprecedented access to game consoles and tablets," CEC Entertainment President Roger Cardinale says. "Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that. Oculus Rift technology is the next frontier in the gaming industry, and we're thrilled to be able to say it's part of the Chuck E. Cheese's lineup."

Following Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift, we'll take "Chuck E. Cheese integration" as another sign that the mainstream entertainment industry is ready for virtual reality. See how the Virtual Ticket Blaster works in the video below.